The first report came in July from a blue-ribbon panel headed by retired federal appellate Judge Abner Mikva. The second came last week from James Lee Witt Associates, a state-commissioned consulting firm. If these reports teach one overarching lesson, it is that these six deaths didn't have to happen.
The reports include suggestions for protecting high-rises in Chicago and elsewhere from inevitable emergencies that imperil lives. Taken together, the Mikva and Witt reports answer questions posed days after the fire:
Did Cook County cut corners and imperil safety when it renovated the building in the 1990s? And did the [County Board President John] Stroger political donors who were under contract to manage the structure have the necessary safety precautions in place?
The Witt report : "Cook County failed to properly monitor building management operations of the Cook County Administration Building relative to building design, systems, security, emergency planning, education and training."
Thirty-one of the Witt report's 81 findings allege failures by building managers, security personnel or county officials. The allegations range from inadequate evacuation procedures and insufficient emergency training to inadequate response to the blaze and the lack of a fail-safe system to unlock stairwell doors. A lawyer for building managers denied that his clients had made mistakes.
• Does Chicago's building code adequately protect people who work in, dwell in or visit high-rises? Or should building owners and managers be subject to tougher safety standards?
The Mikva commission recommended that Chicago require sprinkler systems in older commercial buildings, even though most high-rise casualties take place in residential structures. The Witt report goes further, saying the city "should require installation of automatic fire sprinkler systems in all high-rise buildings."
One alternative: a fire-safety point system, which would require the owner of each structure to meet a certain score by installing sprinklers or making other safety improvements. The Witt report says county officials failed to ensure that the building complied with city and state codes--despite the county's insistence after the fire that the building did meet code.
• Did Chicago firefighters properly balance the need to suppress the blaze with the safety of occupants attempting to flee via a stairwell?
The Mikva report said actions of the Chicago Fire Department were "a significant factor in the loss of life and serious injuries." The Witt report says firefighters didn't "adequately search and account for occupants in the stairways prior to and during fire fighting operations." The core problem, said Mikva commission member Sheila Murphy, a retired judge, was that several officials directing firefighters at the scene "did not know what they were doing." Witt's probe found "no evidence" that fire commanders had received "even the most basic training in regard to their own standards."
The Mikva and Witt reports demand multiple reforms from state, county and city officials who need to be held accountable.
